bachler_daniel.java_lab.txt

Lab Questions
1. To implement the lastPlayBot, I created a field in the class that would hold the last move played by the opponent.  The player class has a blank non-abstract method
that by default does nothing, but is overridden by this method to store the last played move.  If there is no stored last play, the class created a temporary RandomBot
and plays a random move.

2. MyBot's strategy is it will only play a move the opponent has not played yet.  To accomplish this it uses a HashMap with a list of moves paired with a boolean.  Once
a move is played the boolean is changed from false to true, meaning it can no longer be selected.  The bot loops picking random numbers in the range 0-4 until it finds a move
that has not been played by the opponent then returns it.  To avoid an infinite loop in the rare case that the opponent plays all 5 moves and went first, after 100,000 loops
the bot returns Lizard by default, which does not take too much time to reach in the case of it being needed.

3. In Java, explicit typing is used, as all variables must be given a type upon declaration.  For the most part it utilizes static typing, seeing that again, all variables must be given a type by the programmer.
Some dynamic typing is present, as some types can be swapped without explicit casts, but it is not the norm.  Java also uses strong typing vs weak, forcing you to use correct types for functions and operations, otherwise
it will throw a compiler error.  Java also contains both primitive types and constructed types, with user created classes being treated as constructed types in the mindset of type types.  Java binds variables at compile time
seeing as their types are user defined well before then.

4. Beating the stupidBot, iterativeBot, and myBot is fairly easy.  StupidBot always plays Lizard so simply choosing something that beats Lizard is sufficient.  IterativeBot
is also easy enough to beat since it loops over the moves in order, and I know the order so beating it is simply picking the right move at the right time. MyBot can
be beat fairly consistently by picking 2 moves so that it cannot use them, and then picking the move that those moves would beat. For example, if you pick Lizard and Scissors
you can play Paper 3 times, and the bot cannot beat you since only Lizard and Scissors beat paper.  Using this strategy you can always win if you play first.

5. I think that it would be possible, if you sat down and made the payoff matrix.  You could calculate the most probable way to win in multiple rounds.  In one round,
all choices are equal, 2 ways to win and 2 ways to lose with 1 way to tie.  But as you play more rounds you can find a pattern that is more likely to win over pure randomness
or other basic strategies. You may not be able to increase your chances by a lot, but you should be able to make them better than the 50-50 it seems like.


Feedback
1. I have been using Java for over 4 years, so its nice to be able to use a language I am very familiar with, the large amount of libraries for almost anything
I want to do is also fantastic.

2. Sometimes finding the cause of a bug in Java can be painful, as you have to jump through many classes and their methods to resolve it, since you can pull
methods and fields and classes into one nasty line of code.

3. I did enjoy this lab, it wasn't too challenging, but it was required to be done in a way I would not have done it if left to my own devices.  The structure of the lab
turned out to be very useful, and designing the various bots was entertaining.

4. ~6, and I could have done it faster but coming up with the MyBot strategy took me some time, since I couldn't come up with a good original strategy easily.

5. As mentioned in question 1, about 4 years.  It is the language I have the most experience with.